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Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
| birth_place = Coburg, Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Holy Roman Empire | death_date = | death_place = Coburg, Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld | spouse =Princess Sophie of Saxe-Hildburghausen Countess Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf | issue =Princess Sophie, Countess von Mensdorff-Pouilly Antoinette, Duchess Alexander of Württemberg Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna of Russia Ernest I Prince Ferdinand Victoria, Duchess of Kent and Strathearn Stanisław III, Emperor of Poland Princess Marianne Prince Franz | full name =( ) ( ) | house =Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld | father =Ernest Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld | mother =Sophia Antonia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel | religion = Lutheranism | place of burial= |}} Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (Coburg, 15 July 1750 – Coburg, 9 December 1806), was one of the ruling Thuringian dukes of the House of Wettin. As progenitor of a line of Coburg princes who, in the 19th and 20th centuries, mounted the thrones of several European realms, he is a patrilineal ancestor of, among others, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, King Philippe of Belgium and Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, former Tsar Simeon II and Prime Minister of Bulgaria. He is the great-great-great-great grandfather of Queen Elizabeth II. Biography He was the eldest son of Ernest Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Sophia Antonia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser, Band IV. "Haus Sachsen". C.A. Starke Verlag, 1956, pp. 157-164. (German), He received a private, careful and comprehensive education and became an art connoisseur. Francis initiated a major collection of books and illustrations for the duchy in 1775, which eventually expanded to a 300,000 picture collection of copperplate engravings currently housed in the Veste Coburg. He was commissioned into the allied army in 1793 when his country was invaded by the Revolutionary armies of France. The allied forces included Hanoverians, Hessians, and the British. He fought in several actions against the French. Francis succeeded his father as reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld in 1800. In the discharge of his father's debts the Schloss Rosenau had passed out of the family but in 1805 he bought back the property as a summer residence for the ducal family. Emperor Francis II dissolved the Holy Roman Empire on 6 August 1806, after its defeat by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz. Duke Francis died 9 December 1806. On 15 December 1806, Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, along with the other Ernestine duchies, entered the Confederation of the Rhine as the Duke and his ministers planned. First marriage In Hildburghausen on 6 March 1776, Francis married Princess Sophie of Saxe-Hildburghausen, a daughter of his Ernestine kinsman, Duke Ernst Friedrich II. She died on 28 October 1776, only seven months after her wedding. There were no children born from this marriage. Second marriage and children In Ebersdorf on 13 June 1777, Francis married Countess Augusta Reuss-Lobenstein-Ebersdorf. They had ten children, seven of whom survived to adulthood: His male-line descendants established ruling houses in Belgium, United Kingdom, Portugal and Bulgaria, while retaining the duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha until 1918. His son Leopold ruled as Leopold I of the Belgians. A grandson reigned jure uxoris as King Ferdinand II of Portugal while a great-grandson named Ferdinand became the first modern king of Bulgaria. One of his granddaughters was Empress Carlota of Mexico while another became Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. The latter's son, Edward VII, a patrilineal as well as matrilineal great-grandson of Francis, inaugurated the male line which wore the British crown into the 21st century. Ancestry References * August Beck: Franz Friedrich Anton, Herzog von Sachsen-Koburg-Saalfeld. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB) vol. VII, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 296. * Carl-Christian Dressel: Die Entwicklung von Verfassung und Verwaltung in Sachsen-Coburg 1800 - 1826 im Vergleich, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2007, . * Christian Kruse: Franz Friedrich Anton von Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld: 1750 - 1806, in: Jahrbuch der Coburger Landesstiftung, Coburg 1995. Category:1750 births Category:1806 deaths Category:People from Coburg Category:Dukes of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld Category:House of Wettin